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RAAF Radschool Association Magazine – Vol 31 Page 13 RAAF Radschool Association Magazine – Vol 31 Page 13 Spitfire BL628. The following article was sent to us by Kevin Arditto (right), an Ex RAAF maintenance bloke who now lives down near Avalon airport in Victoria. Kevin was an engineer with Australian Airlines and after leaving in 1994 became involved as an Engineer in the restoration process. He says: “This photo of the first post-restoration flight, was taken at Ardmore Airport, which is just south of Auckland in New Zealand on the 29th Sept 2009. The aircraft is a Mark Vb Spitfire, RAF number BL628. It never served in Australia but was operated mainly by Canadians, one of who flew 99 missions over Holland and France and lived to tell the tale This particular aircraft was delivered from Castle Bromwich in January 1942 and was initially allocated to No. 410 Squadron RCAF at Gravesend. It became the personal aircraft of George "Scotty" Murray (right) who named it Marion after his girlfriend. It subsequently served briefly with No. 308 Squadron 31st Fighter Group USAAF in Aug 1942, then Nos. 167 and 610 Squadrons. As the Mark V version became obsolescent, BL628 was converted to a "hooked Spitfire", but without folding wings, and assigned to the Royal Navy who managed to damage it in a hard landing to the extent that it was not repaired. The war ended and it was put up for disposal and the fuselage minus tail and engine was bought by a farmer in Devon for his kids to play in. There it was found in a derelict state some thirty years later by two blokes from Australia in about 1977. It was acquired and was brought back to Australia where it was painstakingly A RAAF Radschool Association Magazine – Vol 31 Page 13 rebuilt using components scrounged from various scrap-yards in the UK. The UK Spitfire restoration movement had known about it for years but did nothing about it. Of course they howled blue murder when these two Aussies whipped it out from under their noses... In the process, the aircraft went back to the UK in 1991 for a short period, then back to Australia, where it received a new pair of wings built on the Isle Of Wight, UK. More recently the aircraft was transferred to Avspecs Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand for final assembly. Avspecs had become known to us and they were well set up for specialised Spitfire work. The UK built wings were completed in NZ, plus the fitting out. The engine and prop work had been done in Australia prior to shipping the aircraft over the Tasman. As the years ticked over, it finally became apparent that the partnership would not be able to throw the extra manpower at it in a time frame that would produce a timely roll-out. About the same time an up-and-running P-51D Mustang from West Australia became available and a deal was done. I think it would be fair to call the result a win-win. The aircraft was disassembled and shipped to its new owners, the Rod Lewis Collection (right) in San Antonio, Texas, where it is now flying. The success of Marion's restoration brings up the number of airworthy Spitfires Mk. V in the world to seven. At this year's Oshkosh Air Show it won the EAA "Best Fighter" Award. Not quite "Grand Champion", but still acceptable. A lot of "We wuz robbed" feelings at the end of the award ceremony... It would take a purge of the EAA Judges for a non-US aircraft restored outside the US to walk away with a "Lindy" (as the Grand Champion Trophy is called...). The project certainly caused frustration at times, but the end result was very satisfying. A real ANZAC project in the end. BL628 has set the standard for all future Spitfire projects. Looking back, it was good to have been part of the achievement. You can see more photos of the aircraft HERE A Greek and a Scotsman were sitting in a Starbuck's cafe discussing who had the superior culture. Over triple lattes the Greek guy says, 'Well, we Greeks built the Parthenon,' arching his eyebrows. The Scotsman then replies, 'Well... it was the Scots that discovered the Summer and Winter Solstices.’ The Greek retorts, 'We Greeks gave birth to advanced mathematics.’ The Scotsman, nodding in agreement, says, 'Scots were the ones who built the first timepieces and calendars.’ And so on until the Greek comes up with what he thinks will end the discussion. With a flourish of finality he says, 'The Greeks were the ones who invented sex!' The Scotsman replies, 'Aye, that is true, but it was we Scots who introduced it to the women. B RAAF Radschool Association Magazine – Vol 31 Page 13 The History of the Spitfire Development. In mid 1934 the Air Ministry released its requirement for an eight-gunned fighter to replace all the other fighters in service. It would reach over 275 mph and have an excellent rate of climb. The pilot would be seated in an enclosed cockpit which would house radio equipment and an oxygen supply that would enable the aircraft to fly at amazing heights. If it took too long for the aircraft to evolve, then the top speed would have to be at least 300 mph, or even 350 mph. In July 1934 Reginald Mitchell (right) announced that he had been working on a new fighter design incorporating both the Schneider trophy winning aircraft and the type 224, another design that Mitchell had been working on. By chance this design had an enclosed cockpit, retractable undercarriage, and did away with the gull-wings. This new aircraft was designed to house the new Rolls Royce PV12 engine, later to be known as the Merlin. Mitchell claimed that his aircraft would fly by early 1935 and reach 265 mph. The Air Ministry turned these designs away because they required eight guns whereas Mitchell's aircraft only held four guns. Fitting these guns posed a major problem because for a wing to hold eight guns it would have to be thicker, similar to the new Hawker Hurricane aircraft; but this meant increasing the aircraft's drag. On 6th November 1934, Vickers gave the go ahead for the construction of a company-funded prototype, the type 300. In December that year, the Air Ministry reviewed the design and allocated £10,000 for what they designated the F37/34. The wooden mock-up of the, as yet, unnamed aircraft followed in April 1935 and was viewed by the Air Ministry staff who said to Mitchell that his fighter would perform as well as any other fighter for the 1940's that they had seen, but it needed to have eight guns. It was discovered that by building an elliptical wing, the aerodynamic qualities of the aircraft were improved and it allowed eight guns to be fitted in the wings, four in each. The thin wings, small head-on fuselage section and extra attention to streamlining all came together to produce a most elegant and fast fighter aircraft. It was hoped that the prototype would fly in October 1935, but it was the competing Hurricane that flew first. The unpainted Supermarine Type F37/34 did not fly until March 1936. The pilot, Mutt Summers, flew the aircraft, still unnamed but now registered as K5054, around the airfield checking the flaps and flying characteristics of the plane. The undercarriage was not retracted during this maiden flight. After only a few minutes K5054 landed and Summers announced to the anxious spectators that all was fine and that he did not want anything touched. C RAAF Radschool Association Magazine – Vol 31 Page 13 After this historic first flight, Mutt Summers made three or four more test flights. The aircraft was then returned to the workshops to be repainted high-gloss blue/grey. On the 27th March 1936 test pilot Jeffrey Quill flew K5054 to set accurate performance figures of 335 mph at 17,000 feet. This proved disappointing compared to Mitchell's estimated 350 mph. Supermarine had already been working on a new propeller with modified tips. This was fitted later on 27th March and Quill took the aircraft up again this time achieving 348 mph. This satisfied Mitchell and so the aircraft went to Martlesham Heath (near Ipswich) for RAF trials on the 26th May 1936, flown by Mutt Summers. Only seven days later on 3rd June 1936, before any test reports had reached the Air Ministry, the Royal Air Force placed a production order for 310 Supermarine Spitfires. But from where did the name "Spitfire" originate? During the designing and building stages of the type 224, Supermarine were dreaming up names for the finished aircraft. At that time Sir Robert McClean, the chairman of Vickers (Aviation) Ltd., decided that the name should suggest something venomous and because Supermarine began with an S he decided that so too should the fighter's name. Out of a host of probable names, such as the Shrike and the Shrew, came the name Spitfire and although Mitchell was not too impressed with this, the Air Ministry and Sir Robert both agreed on the name. Just after a year since the prototype, K5054, flew and when large orders for the Spitfire were coming in, R.J. Mitchell died after a long fight to beat his cancer. His assistant, Mr. Joseph Smith, took control of the design office at Supermarine and continued to design all the future Spitfire marks including the work on the Supermarine Spiteful aircraft that incorporated a large amount of the original Spitfire design.
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